I want to ride my chocobo all day!

Once the daemons started to dissipate, Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto were able to make their way to the elevator as well. How much time had passed, since Noct made his departure? It was almost impossible to tell, but it didn't matter, as they hurried forward down his path, hoping to catch up with him before it was too late.

But when they finally made their way to the Crystal, glowing and pulsating with its odd bluish-purple light, they found no sign of Noctis, and all that stood there was the familiar, imposing figure of Ardyn Izunia.

He turned toward them, with a sweep of his arm toward the Crystal to explain that they were too late, but his explanation didn't get much further than that before Gladio charged forward with a mighty slash of his broadsword. It hit with a force that sent his shoulder knocked back with a release of black smoke, but he kept moving forward, past them. Prompto leveled his gun at Ardyn, pulling the trigger, sending a shot into his other shoulder. Ardyn pitched forward, more black smoke issuing from the wound, but he kept staggering forward. Ignis stood firm, barring the way forward, but it would seem he didn't need to, as a second shot went smashing through Ardyn's back and the man finally crumpled forward in a heap, as his hat tumbled forward from his head and rolled until it settled, still and motionless, at Ignis' feet.

For the brief moment before Ardyn picked himself back up again and snatched it back up, settling it on his head firmly where it belonged, grinning at them all. He gave his hand a grand, sweeping gesture of goodbye, and, in their stunned silence, made his calm, cool exit once more, and left them standing there, with their Crystal, but without their King.


[[ and thus concludes Chapter 13, as well as my constant Final Fantasy XV spamming for...at least a few months while Noctis takes a decade long dirt nap! This and previous parts are obviously NFB, NFI, open to OOC, of course, while I enjoy a well-deserved break. why do I do this to myself? x_x ]]

Prompto stood before the door that would lead him into the chamber where Verstael awaited. Even with the thick door closed, he could hear the machine working inside, pumping miasma into the tubes, and he tried not to think about how that could have been his fate. He tried, instead, to think of what had been his fate….and to remind himself that the only thing separating himself from the man to blame for the fact that all of that was now gone...was this one single door.

He breathed out. He could practically feel the sweat from his hands through his gloves on his grip on his gun. He held out his wrist toward the console. It lit up. Beeped. And opened the door.

( And Prompto, trying to ignore the way his whole body shook as he tried to hold his gun before him steadily, slowly crept inside. -- CW for mild body horror, patricide, emo )

As they approached, though, Aranea reached for Prompto's shoulder, turning him roughly toward her and shoving a map into his chest.

"Head there," she directed. "I'll catch up later."

With a shaking, confused, indecisive breath, Prompto watched as she turned to stride back into the fray, and then, frantic, he called out, "But what about you?"

Aranea didn't turn back, though, pulling out her lance and already crouching for an attack. "I said I'll catch up!"

"But what if you--" Prompto began to protest.

"Just go!"

Prompto stared back at her, then stared down at the map in his hand. Tried to remember how to breath and then, with a few backwards steps and a new resolve, turned toward the snowmobile to hop aboard. A few seconds later, the engine was revved and he was ready to gun it, back out into the unknown frozen wilderness of Niflheim.


[[ Part 3 of 4, there's still one more to go after this! NFB, NFI, OOC always appreciated, today is a very big day, and also, Aranea is GOAT. True facts. ]

When Prompto woke up again, he was still face down, on his stomach, but beneath him was hard metal instead of snow, and, as he slowly started to become aware and push himself up, he realized he was indoors. A strange, unfamiliar, round chamber, with odd canisters and tubes against the wall, heavy metal doors. Boxes. Papers. Files. Some sort of office? Or laboratory? As he started to slowly push himself up, Prompto noticing the barcode on the back of his wrist staring up at him. The leather straps he usually wore around them to hide them….gone. And his confusion only grew once he finally managed to make it to his feet and give a better look around.

( What...what is this place? --CW for unethical science stuff/baby experiments )

Well armed and ready to do whatever it took to make it through this facility, Prompto was surprised when the next door he found opened itself up to a bright, nearly blinding burst of light from the outside, greeting him with a rush of fresh, frigid air. The cold was so deep it instantly made him shiver, but he'd done it! Freedom! He rushed out into that frigid freedom, eagerly rounding the corner around the tower mountains that fenced him in….

…only to be greeted with the door to yet another facility.

"Fine," he sighed. "This is fine. Totally fine."

With no way around it, Prompto closed his eyes to prepare himself for another round, as he walked up to open the next door.

[[ And here we go, into Episode Prompto proper! Part 1 of 4...for today, and I swear to god, the timing actually was coincidental, but kind of perfect. We're just learning all sorts of fun things today! Anyway, you know how it goes. NFB, NFI, OOC lovely, please to enjoy the carefully placed spam throughout the day ]]

Prompto wished he could say that he'd slept easier last night, having finally contacted Liz, but he was kept awake by his own racing thoughts, his newfound desire to make this all right again, to get Insomnia back, to get Fandom back, and his worries that, even if they did, what then? Everything had changed so suddenly, so completely, and all he knew was he just wanted to go back in time and fix everything….

The tremors didn't help. Eos rumbling beneath their feet, which they said was because of the Disc of Cauthess, nothing unusual about it except the frequency and the intensity of it. They were used to the earthquakes, but they usually didn't happen so often, or so strong. And every single time the ground tremored, Noctis found himself hunching over with a searing pain stabbing into his skull. Sometimes, there wasn't even a tremor for him to wince with a headache out of nowhere, and it was starting to cause a good deal of concern.

( Of Waterfalls, Gods, and Creepy Old Men. )

"Well, we'll just have to watch our backs," Gladio said.

"The whole way," Noctis agreed and, seeing the headlights in front of him go bright, turned to follow as Arydn pulled into a rest stop. Considering the darkening sky, it wasn't really that much of a surprise.

"The Archaean isn't going anywhere," Ardyn pointed out smoothly, once they all exited their respective vehicles to see what the pit stop was all about. "I suggest we bunk down for the night. I'll be happy to foot the bill for our accommodations, and we'll proceed bright and early in the morning."

Not a single one of them was happy about this particular suggestion, but neither of them could deny that there was truth in the fact that a trip to the Disc at night was a fool's errand. So there it was. Staying the night in a reststop caravan with a creepy old potential stalker.

Things just kept getting better and better.

[[ NFB for distance, of course, and cribbed mostly from Chapter 3 of Final Fantasy XV, "The Open World," with a LOT of adjustments because the dialogue in this one is rough, good GOD ]]